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Nate Wellman Issues Statement

Elite Series Pro Nate Wellman issued the following statement today:
I regret the statements that I made to my co-angler during the Bass Pro Shops, Bassmaster Northern Open on Lake Erie Aug 25-27 2011.   While I never intended for my statements to be anything more than an expression of my envy for his performance that day, looking back I can understand now why my co-angler would have misinterpreted my statements.   My statements were wrong and should never have been made.

To be perfectly clear – I am not a cheater.  I’ve never cheated in the past and will never do so in the future.   I’ve dedicated my entire adult life to bass fishing, the sport that I love and no amount of money in the world is worth jeopardizing my career that I’ve spent my life working for.  I am an accomplished angler and am confident about my future.  Simply stated, I have no reason to cheat and would never tarnish my accomplishments nor compromise my future by cheating.  I respect myself, my family, my sponsors and my sport way to much to bring it all down by cheating.

I apologize to everyone for my mistake, including B.A.S.S. and my co-angler for putting them in such an awkward position. Also a sincere apology to the fans of fishing for it was not my intention to tarnish the integrity of the sport.